Guard rail



Patented Dec. 22, 1925. r r

UNITED STATES" Orr-ma.

nanny STEPHENS, or CLEVELAND, on o, Assrenoamo THE INTERSTATE RAILWAY SUPPLY COMPANY, orv CLEVELAND, 01110, A CORPORATION or 01110..

g GUARD RAIL.

Application filed July 3,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY STEPHENS, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have-invented a new and useful'Improvement in Guard Rails, of which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention beingherein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplate applying that principle, Jso as'to distinguish it from other inventions.

The present invention relates to a: guard rail construction, and has'for its object the provision of a guard rail which comprises the usual web and railhead member, and also base members or piers which extend under the main rail and act as supports therefor, as well as supports for the guard rail proper. In particular, the present rail provides a construction whereby greatstrength is provided in the vertical web ofthe guard rail and at the same time makes it possible to keep the weight of the entireguardrail unit as low, aspossible. The generalffeatures as to the length of the rail and its arrangement on the main rail are similar to the showing in my co-pending United States ap plication, Serial No. 615,855, filed J anuary' 30, 1923. To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafterfully described and particularly pointed out-in the claims. v

The accompanying drawing andthe following description set forth in detail certain mechanism embodying :the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one, of various mechanical forms in which the principle of'the invention may be used.

In said accompanying drawing:-,.

Fig.1 is aplan view of the present guard rail as applied to a main rail and showing the usual foot guards in place in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is a side elevational View of the guard rail; Fig. 3, is a sectional View on the line 83 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44: of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55. of Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a sectional view through one of the base plates taken on the line 6-6 in Fig.1; Fig. 7 is,

of full depth and'is 1924. Serial in. 7 3,997.

a side elevational view of a portion of the guard rail showing a modified form of vertical web; Fig. '8 is a sectional view on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is a sectional view on the line 9 9fof Fig. 7; and'Fig. 10

tached thereto, this guard rail having a series of base plates or piers 2, and formed integrally with the guard rail proper, which consists of a vertical-web 3 and'the rail section 4 at the top thereof. I

The main rail isof the usual construction, having a rail head 5, a vertical web6, and a horizontal web or base 7 ,and the guard rail consists of the series of elongated base plates orpieces 2, which, at their main'rail supporting ends are formed with a series of ribs 8 andgroo-ves 9, as best shown in Fig. 6'. Theseends are provided with spikehole openings 1.0 and 11, oneof which, 11, is formed ofa series of steps so as toprovide guardrail proper. consists of the vertical is a broken side elevation of a modified .form. 1

web 3, which, at the fpoints over the piers, is

ormed I integrally there: with. At the base plates there are provided, on the side away ffIO'm the main rail, two sup-. porting or strengthening webs or flanges 12, which substantially fill in the triangular portions between the outer edges of the base plates and the head of the guard rail," as best shown in Fig. '3.

' The head of the guard rail is of usual form, but thevertical web 3 is corrugated transversely throughout its extent and these corrugations 14 are in a vertical plane, that is, in the plane of the web itself. Between the base plates and the strengthening flanges the web is of lessdepth so as to provide a rigid construction and this port-ion of the web is provided with a flange Eat the bottom extending outwardly of the guard rail to form a modified Z-bar construction, as

best shown in Fig. 4. This lower horizontal flange curves outwardly at its ends into corbase plates, and thecorner flanges curve both up and down to increase in depth at this point, as best shown in Fig. 2, to aid in stiffening the unit.

in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, a modified form of construction is shown in which the central section of the rail between the two interior base plates 21 has vertically extending corrugations 22 in the vertical web. The end see tions of the rail have corrugations 23 which extend longitudinally of the web which provides end sections adapted to resist pressure exerted at the ends of the rail tending to break the rail off about a vertical plane outside of the two center piers while the vertical corrugations in the center section act as before to stiffen this section.

in Fig. 10 another modification is shown in which the web is provided with corrugations 26 which run at an angle so as to provide extra stiffness in both directions. Preferably such angular corrugations would be formed only between the two center piers and the ends of the rail with the intere mediate section having vertical corrugations :27 as before. By the use of this corrugated web construction, the web may be made of thinner metal and the same strength maintained, or if the thickness of the metal is maintained over that usually employed in a straight web, the strength will be materially increased.

The present guard rail gives either greater strength with the same weight of metal, or the same strength with a lighter weight of metal than in the usual straight web construction, and as the cost of guard rails is very largely determined by the amount of metal therein, the present rail can either be made cheaper than other types, or'at the same expense can be made stronger. The grooved base plates also lighten up the rail to a limited degree and thus the entire rail is more easily handled, as well as cheaper to manufacture, than previous types. This is particularly true in a rail of the general construction shown, such as previously mentioned as being described in my co-pending application in which the over-all length of the rail may be materially reduced and still obtain the necessary length in front of and behind the frog point and thus, as a whole, the present rail provides a guard rail of considerably lighter weight than previous types.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention 1. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates and a rail of Z-bar shape formed integral therewith, braces between the rail head and the base plates, the web of the rail being corrugated transversely to increase the stillness and the base plates being provided with longitudinally arranged ribs and grooves.

2. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates and a rail section formed integrally therewith, said rail section having a head, a web and a horizontal lower flange, the web being corrugated throughout its extent, the base plates extending beyond the rail and adapted to receive and support the main rail and being provided with a series of ribs and grooves extending lengthwise ol the plates.

3. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates and a rail section, said rail section comprising a rail head, a web and a horizontal lower flange extending from the side away from the main rail, the web being corrugated throughout, triangular brace webs extending from the outer ends of the base plates and the rail head, the horizontal flange being widened and thickened at its junction with said brace webs, all parts being formed integrally to provide a rigid structure.

4. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates provided with corrugations extending lengthwise of the plates and a rail section said rail section comprising a rail head, a web and a horizontal lower flange extending from the side away from the main rail, the web being corrugated throughout, triangular brace webs extending from the outer ends of the base plates and the rail head, the horizontal flange being widened and thickened at its junction with said brace webs, all parts being formed integrally to provide-a rigid structure.

5. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates provided with a series of ribs and grooves extending lengthwise of the plates and a rail section, said rail section comprising a rail head, a web and a horizontal lower flange extending from the side away. from the main rail, the web being corrugated throughout, triangular brace webs extending from the outer ends of the base plates and the rail head, the horizontal flange being widened and thickened at its junction with said brace webs, all parts being formed integrally to provide a rigid structure.

6. A guard ra-il comprising a series of base plates and a rail. or" Z-bar' shape formed integrally with said plates, braces between the rail head and the base plates, the web of the rail being provided near the ends with corrugations extending longitudinally of the web.

7'. A guard rail comprising a series of base plates and a rail of Z-bar shape formed integrally with said plates, braces between the rail head and the base plates, the web of the rail being provided near the ends with corrugations extending longitudinally of the Web, the center portion of the web l being provided with corrugations extending vertically with the Web. 4

8. A guard rail formed as an integral structure and comprising four base plates, a rail section of modified Z-bar shape, and

braces between the rail and base plates, the 10 vertical web of the rail between the two center piers being provided with corrugations extending vertically, the web from the piers to'the' ends of the rail being provided with corrugations extending longitudinally. 15

Signed by me this 30th day of June, l924.

HENRY STEPHENS. 

